Let’s get small: Downsizing my life and my tech

This was my happy place: an L-shaped computer table with a hutch. I spent many geeky hours here over the years.

This was my happy place: an L-shaped computer table with a hutch. I spent many geeky hours here over the years.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

Image 2 of 9

My wife had a similar table, though she used it less in recent years after switching full-time to a notebook computer.

My wife had a similar table, though she used it less in recent years after switching full-time to a notebook computer.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

Image 3 of 9

We put both of the desks on Craigslist, where they sold quickly.

We put both of the desks on Craigslist, where they sold quickly.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

Image 4 of 9

Here's what I wound up with. A smaller happy place, but still happy, able to accommodate 2 computers and monitors.

Here's what I wound up with. A smaller happy place, but still happy, able to accommodate 2 computers and monitors.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

Image 5 of 9

My other happy place: The entertainment center, with 90s-era stereo and oversized speakers.

My other happy place: The entertainment center, with 90s-era stereo and oversized speakers.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

Image 6 of 9

We replaced the big oak cabinets with a sleek, glass-and-steel TV stand made by Init.

We replaced the big oak cabinets with a sleek, glass-and-steel TV stand made by Init.

Photo: Init

Image 7 of 9

The stereo system was replaced by this Vizio 2.1 soundbar. It has excellent sound, helped by the wireless subwoofer that connects to the soundbar via Bluetooth.

The stereo system was replaced by this Vizio 2.1 soundbar. It has excellent sound, helped by the wireless subwoofer that connects to the soundbar via Bluetooth.

Photo: Vizio

Image 8 of 9

Here's the completed home theater setup. On the second shelf is the router, streaming boxes and a Blu-ray player.

Here's the completed home theater setup. On the second shelf is the router, streaming boxes and a Blu-ray player.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

Image 9 of 9

Let's get small: Downsizing my life and my tech

1 / 9

Back to Gallery

As often happens with couples whose children have grown up, left home and are on their own, my wife and I decided late last year that it was time to downsize. We lived in a three-bedroom, three-story townhouse in the Montrose area of Houston since December 2004. It was a swankienda we loved, but no longer needed. Changes in our financial situation and Houston’s red-hot housing market were the tipping points.

This spring, we put our home on the market and sold it almost instantly. We wanted to stay in the neighborhood since we love its diversity, artsiness and wonderful restaurants. We moved into an apartment a couple of blocks from our house, for now enjoying not being homeowners, with all the responsibilities that entails.

But to be able to stay in the area, where rents are high, we took up residence in a small apartment in a luxury complex. And when I say small, I am not exaggerating. My wife, our two rambunctious kittens and I went from a 2,500-square-foot house to a 900-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment.

One of the biggest challenges for this endeavor was downsizing my technology. Since the early 1990s, I’ve used space at home for working with tech products I’m reviewing. Back then, I needed room for big desktop towers and hulking CRT monitors. My wife used to complain about oversized boxes filling up our home office and any available closet. In my current job, I’m reviewing fewer products and am more apt to store smaller boxes for tablets, routers and smartphones.

Even so, my setup remained substantial. It was also my happy place, my man cave, my fiefdom. Giving it up was one of hardest parts of the move, both logistically and emotionally. But with some planning and smart use of the technology on hand, I’ve been able to carve out a small patch of real estate to call my own.

Here’s what I started with:

• Our home office was in a loft area on the third floor of our house, outside our bedroom and overlooking the living room. Both my wife and I had L-shaped computer desks with hutches in this area, along with a dining table and chairs I used as a workbench for review computers.

• On my computer desk was my mid-2007, 24-inch iMac, along with a second, 19-inch Dell monitor and Klipsch 2.1 speakers. The desk was big enough that I also had an area for my notebook computer and any other mobile devices I might be testing at the moment.

• On the dining table was my home-built Windows 8 desktop, along with another 19-inch Dell monitor. That table also held, at any given time, desktop and notebook PCs under review. It also served as a workspace for upgrades and, as my wife will quickly tell you, a dumping ground for parts, cables, chargers and other digital detritus.

• In the living room, we had an early-1990s entertainment center, bought at the time to hold a 32-inch CRT TV. We finally replaced it with a flat-panel HDTV several years ago, but the 90s-era stereo system we used for home theater audio was still in place, complete with massive speakers, a five-CD changer and even a VCR.

Here’s what I’ve got now:

• The apartment we rented has a built-in desk in a nook next to the kitchen. It’s wide enough to accommodate my iMac and the second monitor, with a little room to spare. There are two shelves above it, and a decent amount of space underneath the desk, where my Windows 8 tower now stands along with the subwoofer for the speakers.

• In the apartment’s living room is an arched niche designed for a TV. We bought a glass-and-steel Init HDTV stand to hold our 48-inch Samsung television that fits nicely in the space, and replaced the stereo system with a Vizio 2.1 soundbar that was highly touted by the Wirecutter, an excellent site for consumer electronics recommendations.

And here’s how I did it:

• First, we made aggressive use of Craiglist, ruthlessly selling off any piece of furniture we knew we would not need. That included all the big pieces in the home office – both computer tables, my wife’s office chair, the dining room set, filing cabinets and more. I gave a large number of castoff items and old computer parts – graphics cards, wiped-clean hard drives, empty cases, keyboards, etc. – to Goodwill, which operates the Houston Computer Works store on Westheimer.

• I sold the ’90s-era stereo system to the son of a co-worker who wanted an audio rig that would sound great with a retro turntable, and this fit the bill. I was more than happy to oblige.

• At the apartment, I wanted to be able to use both the Mac and the PC, but was confined to the nook desk. The Dell monitor, which is an older UltraSharp 1905FP model, held the key. It has both analog and digital inputs, with a button on the lower front bezel for switching between them. I connected the analog port to the iMac and the digital port to the Windows 8 model. When I want to switch between them, I just toggle the Dell display, and take the Windows keyboard andLogitech trackpad down from the shelf above.

The one downside: I only have the small, 19-inch display for the Windows PC. I may update to a larger secondary monitor, but that likely would also involve upgrading my video card to include HDMI-out. Another consideration: I’m likely to replace the 24-inch iMac with a newer, 27-inch model, or a Mac Mini with a 27-inch monitor. That would take up even more room on the desk.

• This apartment is bristling with cable outputs. There are two in the living room, one under the desk nook, and one in the bedroom. I could connect my cable modem to any of them, but I’ve opted to place it and the router in the TV stand. Since we don’t have cable and rely on streaming from a Roku 3 and an Apple TV (and I’m testing an Amazon Fire TV), I decided to take Wi-Fi out of the equation for the Internet-based video. Those two boxes are hardwired to my Linksys router’s Gigabit Ethernet connections

I considered putting the router and cable modem on the desk, but I’d have to put it either behind the iMac and Dell monitor – which would create interference for the Wi-Fi signal in the rest of the apartment – or on the shelves above. But there’s no wiring pass-through in the upper shelves, so I’d have a cabling mess on my hands. So far, having the router and modem low and beneath the TV has not proven to be an issue – my iMac and Windows PC both communicate via Wi-Fi, and the connection is quite zippy.

For now, this setup is working well enough. We’re in this apartment for at least a year, and at this point we’re happy. We’ve gotten rid of all the stuff we don’t need, and we’re left to use just the best of what we had.

In terms of tech, the lack of space has yet to feel constraining. In fact, it’s been freeing in a way. With fewer things to keep track of, my computing life is simpler and more streamlined. I wish I’d done this sooner.

As I rework this setup and upgrade my tech, I’ll post updates to the blog.